The Exodus

Welcome to your new Apocalypse.

So, just woke up, huh? Yeah, lots of us disappeared right before the end. Let me fill you in.

As ends of the world go, this one could have been worse. At least everyone knows for sure their life doesn’t end when they die. Course, this way around isn’t much better. Funny world, that.

Problem is, for most folks these days, lives aren’t worth much. Hard to go anywhere without being hunted by something straight outta a ghost story.

Don’t go near any of the big cities. Unless you know enough to do business (and you don’t), the Fangs’ll put you right in a pen and treat you like cattle. Food and money between the lot of ‘em. Even if you stay away you’ll get baby Fangs and their pet Oncers trying to track you down, or trick your crew into getting caught. Every once in awhile you’ll get a baby Fang try to run loose. Guess they don’t like being bossed around any more than we do. Still probably a good idea to put a length of pine through ’em if you get the chance. Fangs is Fangs.

Don’t go too far off the roads. Weres’ll getcha. Sure you got your wolves. Those’re the worst of the lot. But you can’t even trust the birds nowadays. One second you think you’re going to peg a duck for a nice dinner, next you got a flock of Weres trying to peck you to death. Its enough to put you off your feed. Never heard of a wolf you could get along with, but every once in a while you’ll find a friendly possum or somesuch on the road. Friendly enough anyway. You find a lone were, you keep one eye on him and the other on the shadows for the rest of ’em.

Watch yourself in the little towns you find around. Most of ‘em are just folks trying to get by without having to run so much. Every once in a while you’ll get the weirdos. Sometimes they’re just punks think it’s easier to take your stuff then get their own. Sometimes it’s folks that seem friendly, but they’re just a little off. Like you know they aren’t really like us. You can do business with ‘em, but something’s hunting them. Something desperate. I’ve seen whole towns just disappear. Not burned. Just gone. Spooky stuff.

Then you got all the other odds and ends you gotta watch for. GTAs, slavers, cannibals, frankenstiens, and some even say the devil himself has come out to give people a hard time. I don’t know if I believe that, but you think about every other story that’s come true and you have to wonder.

One thing I’ll tell you though. You ever find someone who says he knows what went wrong and is going to fix it, you run the other way. Some people don’t know when to quit, and those are the ones who got us in this mess to start with. They still show up every once in a while, but I’ll be damned if I know what they’re trying to do except stir up more trouble.

Don’t worry too much though. You lucked into popping back in a Free Rider camp, and I like the look of you. You can ride with us if you want and we’ll find something for you to do. Not everything we do is pretty, but everyone needs us, so we get along fine.